Scratch solutions

When you first started to scratch it is pretty safe to assume that you intended to have fun. Most likely you did and continued to enjoy yourself or you probably wouldn't be reading this. Likewise, it's also pretty safe to assume that you don't always have fun when you scratch. Unfortunately there are no guarantees that scratching will always be fun for you. However, you can greatly increase the odds of having fun if you focus on the right things when scratching.

Well Intended Focus

If you're even the least bit serious about scratching than you have goals. Whether your goals are big or small is irrelevant for the purpose of this article. Goals are all about expectations. Every goal has a natural expectation built into it that it will be achieved. That expectation may not always be backed by confidence, but the expectation is still there.

Unfortunately, not every goal we set for ourselves is easily achieved and the process of achievement in scratching can be extremely tough on your spirits. Many mistakes and setbacks will inevitably take place and if you're not careful those setbacks can be a huge source of frustration. Having fun in the face of frustration is not easily done either. Yet it is vital that you continue to enjoy what you do or you will not be able to tough it out through all the obstacles that you'll encounter.

Shifting Your Focus

Since having fun is clearly important, you need to keep your mind on the things you associate with feeling good. We've all experienced some form of victory in our life so we know how good it feels to achieve a goal. Thus, achieving your goals in scratching will also feel good so you must stay focused on those feelings. Especially during your most challenging times you need to think about how good it will feel to break past your frustrations and be at the level you're shooting for.

Being more focused on the joy of achievement throughout your experiences in scratching will actually make the challenges you face more fun. This is because you have now reframed your problems as mere bumps in the road to things you'll inevitably achieve. Once you consistently think like this no problem will seem to truly stand in your way.

Thinking Beyond Goals

Let's also realize that the reason we have goals at all in scratching is so we can express ourselves freely. While it is obvious that once you have mastered scratching you will be able to express essentially anything you want at any moment, it is not as obvious that you still have power to express yourself with scratching at any skill level. Thus, it's important to recognize and take comfort in this fact. This will enable you to enjoy yourself even more along your journey to full on self actualization because a part of what you ultimately want is with you all along.

Focusing on Having Fun Creates Fun

The coolest thing about fun is simply thinking about having fun puts you in a space where fun is possible. If your primary intention is to have fun, it is very likely that you will. Bottom line, don't let tough times slow you down. Keep looking for good times and they'll be yours!

Becoming better at scratching can create feelings of inferiority. You may have goals to be extremely fast, have a highly complex flow, or many other things. However, if you're not anywhere near those goals you're likely to feel upset about your ability and start overcompensating as a result. Overcompensation often leads to thinking you're not doing enough. Not moving fast enough, not doing enough intricate movements and so on. Unfortunately, this line of thinking only leads to more frustration with your scratching as you start piling on more problems instead of eliminating them.

Fundamentally Shift Your Thinking

Take a moment to think about how a sculpture is created. When you watch a sculptor work, what are they doing? Are they bringing in extra material and tacking it onto the material they started with, or are they carefully chiseling down what they already have? Clearly the answer is the latter.

How does this relate to scratching you might be thinking? Well, you may not physically have a block of material to carve down, but you do have the ability to create a vision of what you want to ultimately be as a scratch dj. This goes back to goals you already have in mind. You got the first part right by actually having specific goals (and if you don't you really need to). So now it's time to get the second part correct by viewing things in terms of elimination.

Taking Out the Trash

If you're familiar with my writing, you know I'm a big fan of tossing out the unnecessary such as too much tension, movement or negative thinking when scratching. If something isn't working, why would you want to continue doing it, let alone doing it in a more extreme manner? Think of it like a needle in a haystack. In order to find the needle you need to get rid of all the hay that's covering it up or you'll never find it!

Taking speed as an example, you would start with the goal of being ultra fast. You would then look at what great speed in scratching actually is and how people with great speed are achieving it. Next, you would decipher what are you doing that they aren't and eliminate it. Some aspects of what to do will be obvious and some won't. Don't sell yourself short though. With enough thought, patience and action, you will find the solution you seek. For more information on achieving great speed go here: Free Scratch DJ Report

Too Much Time and Too Little Knowledge

You might find that it's taking too long to find and eliminate all the problems you're suffering from. While thinking on your own about how to solve issues can be a great way to develop your problem solving skills for the better, it doesn't mean that you have to do everything alone. It is always smart to seek out a highly knowledgeable scratch mentor who has achieved what you want to achieve and personally learn from them.

Just realize that even though they're successful at doing what you want for yourself, it doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be able to transfer that success to you. You need someone that will have a truly vested interest in your success. They must also remember what it was like to go through all the challenges you're currently facing, how they got through them and distill that information into highly effective problem solving strategies. Otherwise you'll just be increasing your problems instead of decreasing them.

Using This Information on a Macro Level

While it is useful to think in terms of individual techniques and goals, in order to get truly worthwhile results you'll need to apply the process of elimination to much bigger things like relationship, career and health goals. Often times what's holding you back in scratching is something larger than you'd imagine. Let's face it, how can you really be at the pinnacle of success if you're suffering greatly in any of these areas of life? It's all connected, so if you're troubled in one area it will surely affect the others. Don't allow yourself to create more turmoil. Take charge of your success and take charge now!